Reviewed by Amber
TITLE: In The Middle of Nowhere
AUTHOR: Brandi Evans
PUBLISHER: Loose Id
LENGTH: 118 pages
BLURB:
Homeless, plagued by nightmares from an abusive childhood, nineteen-year-old Tyler Bishop does whatever he can to escape his pain. Drugs, alcohol, everything’s game–at least until handsome Dean Henderson struts into his life and shows him a better way. For two years, Dean’s love and friendship give Tyler the strength to face his demons instead of running.
Then tragedy strikes.
When a drunk driver kills his parents and severely injures his eleven-year-old sister, Emily, Dean panics. With Emily facing years of extensive–not to mention expensive–rehabilitation, he needs health insurance fast. Forcing himself back into the closet, Dean drops out of college and enlists in the Army. For two years, he plays the perfect soldier, but the pressure of pretending to be someone he’s not is suffocating.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repealed.
Out on walkabout after a painful emotional setback, Tyler isn’t prepared for the backlash of seeing Dean again. Face to face for the first time in five years, sparks–and tempers!–fly. Before sanity catches up with them, they’re locked in a fierce kiss. But with Dean about to deploy and Tyler wrestling new demons is a reconciliation possible? Or is their reunion doomed before it even begins?
REVIEW:
The things we do for love. That one thing is what I kept thinking while reading this story. Dean’s love for his sister and his love for his deceased parents caused him to sacrifice something that he knew was a once in a lifetime thing.
Dean is home on leave from the Army. He stops at a café to get something to eat when he was on his way to see his sister who was seriously injured in a car accident years before. It just so happens that this particular cafe employs Dean’s ex boyfriend and lost love.
Ty was emotionally, mentally, physically, and sexually abused by his father for most of his life. To escape the pain he turned to drugs and alcohol. Years of abuse has found himself at a homeless shelter where Dean volunteers. Dean devotes his time to care for Ty, help him get and stay clean while showing him that he can be loved. That he’s worthy of love. We didn’t get a lot of back history on their relationship but the snippets we do get are just enough. Dean loves Ty; you can feel it in how gentle he is with him. How patient he is, it’s beautiful.
Then tragedy strikes and Dean sacrifices his relationship with Ty by joining the Army for the money and benefits to help care for his sister. He breaks things off with Ty and walks away.
Five years later they accidentally meet at the café. You can immediately tell that their spark is not out. But years of hurt feelings and lack of communication has made things incredibly tense between the two.
What develops is a new getting to know you process. This is a short story so the buildup happens quickly but it’s perfect too. These two have already been through so much that the author doesn’t drag it all out again. The reader just gets brief glimpses of their past, and I personally appreciated that.
The epilogue did a perfect job of ending this story beautifully. Great story.
RATING: 
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